Here's looking at them

With a hit feature, 35 shorts and a dozen or so packed screenings in the bag, Automatic Vaudeville Studios has just hit the ripe age of five - a feat they're rather proud of. "We're totally fucking thrilled," says head of talent Mark Slutsky, a third of AVS's core circle, rounded off by Seth W. Owen and Daniel Perlmutter.

To celebrate, they're throwing a soirée featuring new films, live entertainment and dance-friendly DJs. The highlight of the night, though, promises to come in their in-depth retrospective entitled Automatic Vaudeville Studios Presents a Perspectives Series Production: Here's Looking at Us, Chapter One: The First Five Years: Automatic Vaudeville 1998-2003: Our Story.

"I think every piece of that title is vital," Slutsky explains through steady gusts of hot, rank air. "This is not just a pat on the back, this is uncensored, from-the-hip stuff. We're gonna look at our controversial history, still unresolved ego battles - essentially the human drama in microcosm."

The evening takes place at the Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent) on Friday, Nov. 21, at 9 p.m, and a mere five bucks gets you in the door. "Many, many times we've shamelessly sold out," says Slutsky, "yet we've never made any money. And we've never lost the joy and the pleasure of cinema." » Matthew Woodley

Young offenders

After nine years as a Bifteck barmaid, Susan Moss is perhaps better known for her beer-slingin', sailor-shamin' ways than her parallel career as a photographer. This month, however, a collection of her made-in-Montreal music memories will adorn the watering hole's stuccoed walls.

"A lot of musicians have come through here over the years," she muses, "so it was inevitable that I'd show my band photos at the bar."

Titled This Ain't No Disco (a variation of jeers shouted by staff after last call), the collection of 18 large-format portraits and stage shots range from the Beastie Boys to Bob Dylan, Nashville Pussy to Emimen, along with locals like Tricky Woo and UVBC. "My style is very rock 'n' roll," Moss explains. "It's old school, I use available light, no flash, no digital shit - so the results are grainy and raw."

With the exception of its poorly attended Rothko Retrospective, tonight, Nov. 13, at 8 p.m., marks Bifteck's first official hi-culture vernissage. All are welcome to "come and get loaded!" at 3702 St-Laurent. » Sarah Musgrave

Cowboys on acid

Providence, Rhode Island, is the home of Fort Thunder, a dilapidated building that houses an eponymous art collective. The Fort Thunder crew is responsible for many things - turning the old industrial space into a trashy psychedelic mess is one, making wacky indie music is another, but the free Paper Rodeo tabloid is the coolest.

Paper Rodeo gathers all manner of fucked-up, leftfield comics and graphics into, well, the aforementioned trashy psychedelic mess. Fort Thunder's Mat Brinkman and Leif Goldberg and some of their works, as well as local handmade toy maven Leyla Majeri, are at Pile O' Beer (120 Mont-Royal E.) this weekend - the launch is Saturday, Nov. 22, 7 p.m., free, and there will no doubt be a pile of beer there. » Rupert Bottenberg

Strange days revisited

As collaborator with and close friend to the late Jim Morrison, Frank Lisciandro had an inside take on the '60s California rock-culture trip. The photographer/filmmaker met Morrison in a UCLA film-school class in 1963 and ended up on many a backstage on Doors tours. This weekend he comes to Hudson's Gallery Harwood (3663 Harwood), recently opened by artist and publisher Ihor Todoruk, who also did time in the Golden State way back when.

In addition to photos, Lisciandro and Morrison worked together on HWY, an experimental film starring the Doors frontman that has only been screened once. "It's about this mountain man who descends into the city and becomes like the hostility of the violence he finds," Lisciandro explains. "It's hard to watch, but experimentation was such a fundamental part of that era." The film is slated for release in the spring; meanwhile, Lisciandro's rock history chronicles are on display from Nov. 22-Jan. 15. » Matthew Woodley

Is it Art?

SCRATCH BASTARDS: No less than 300 cats representing 40 different breeds (not to mention their pumped-up owners) will take over Place Bonaventure this weekend for what's arguably the most important feline competition in Canada this year. Le Noël des chats will be a flurry of continuous judging and stage presentations set amongst a jungle of kitty paraphernalia boutiques and info kiosks. Noted veterinarian Dr. Diane Frank will host a conference on "inappropriate pee pees, aggressiveness and automutilation" (Sunday at noon). And who will dethrone last year's supreme champion of Quebec, Bluejeans? Pick up a baggy of catnip and head down to find out, Nov. 21-23, Fri 1-6 p.m.; Sat-Sun 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; $6-$10.

ArtsHole

TURN OFF, TUNE IN: Studio 303's cult-classic series, Bruits du noir, a performance series that takes place entirely in the dark, happens on Nov. 21-22, 8:30 p.m. at 372 Ste-Catherine W., #303. This year's event features works by Christof Migone, Andrew Watson and Nicolas Basque, Catherine Kidd and more. Reserve before the lights go down by calling 393-3771. • KAZEMI RETROSPECTIVE: Twenty photographs by Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian photojournalist killed at the hands of Iranian interrogators earlier this year, are on display at the Cinémathèque québécoise (335 de Maisonneuve E.) until Nov. 23.

ARTISTAT: Number of monitors that Gyusook Oh uses to convey the impact of moving from South Korea to Nunavut in places in between, a reflection on home that runs until Dec. 13 at the MAI (3680 Jeanne-Mance): 10

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